Seashells
by Kestrel0113
Summary: Beginning of season 6 AU- just a random scene from a what-if Tyson came back daydream (I know this actually happens but pretend it happened this way instead). If this seems to go well I might write the whole story instead of just the one-shot. First attempt actually putting my daydreams into words so any comments welcome!


Captain gates glanced out her open door again, taking in the scene in the main room. Det. Beckett was working at her computer sneaking looks over to her partner every few minutes. The partner in question sat leaning forward, arms braced on his knees, gaze resolutely downward, and completely- uncharacteristically- silent. As much as the captain had resented Mr. Castle's presence at times it was…disconcerting to say the least to seem him in such a black mood.

Both partners' heads shot up as Ryan and Esposito came what could only be described as power walking around the corner. Gates herself moved to lean against her door, anxious, though unwilling to show it, to hear the latest update.

The boys glanced at her briefly, but focused on Castle and Beckett. Ryan hesitated slightly, looking around nervously and taking a deep breath before meeting his friends eyes, "We did what you suggested Castle, and had a CSU team sweep your apartment for bugs-"

"You what?" Gates was surprised to hear her voice joined with Beckett's, as the other woman seemed equally stunned at the latest development. However she kept quiet as Beckett turned to her fiancé, and asked why on earth that would be necessary.

Castle stared at the ground for a moment before resolutely meeting his partner's eyes, "Last time Tyson came after me, he had been watching me…watching us."

Beckett seemed stunned, mouth opening and closing a few times before asking, "What do you mean?"

"He had some sort of surveillance on me. He told me. He saw us working cases, having dinner with my daughter…" his jaw convulsed, "in, ah, more private moments". He winced and quickly spoke to answer the question he could see Beckett forming. "I didn't tell you because I hoped he was really gone. I didn't really believe it but I couldn't face him coming back again….and at the time, this" he gestures between them, "was still new, I wasn't sure that you wouldn't run if I told you, and as time went on…" He shrugs.

Beckett glares at him, "We'll talk about this later," her face maintains its intensity even as she squeezes his hand to soften her words, and turns back to the boys, "So, what did you find?"

This time Esposito speaks up, "Well Castle was right, there were bugs hidden in his apartment, both audio and visual recordings that could be monitored via live feed."

Castle's face darkens, and he paces a few steps before turning to them, "Where were they?"

Esposito consults the paper in his hand, "ah, above the front door, the bottom of the window in your office, and…" he squints at the paper, "in the seashells on the bedroom wall? Bro, why do you have seashells-" his mildly amused voice cuts off abruptly as Castle slams his hand against the white board next to him, "Are you kidding me?" Castle angrily demands.

Gates knows her face is mirroring the stunned expressions on those around her, though she thinks Beckett looks like she may understand some of her partner's rage.

"No…?" Ryan answers, clearly unsure how to react.

Castle paces back and forth a few times, his hands clenching spasmodically, before turning and slamming his fist into the nearest wall- which happened to be glass. He hits again, his time the glass failing to slow the momentum of his fist. The sound seems to shake Beckett out of her frozen surprise, and she takes two quick steps forwards to pin his arms back before he can swing again. He turns as he starts to fight against the hands holding him, but stills as he recognizes the woman in front of him.

"Castle…" she begins in a soft voice. He turns his head away, taking a deep breath. Gates is only mildly surprised at this point to notice his hands shaking in rage. "He's taking this from me too…he's getting into everything good in my life and, and poisoning it!" He keeps his voice low but it's clearly a struggle. He goes to move away, but Beckett stops him, putting her hands on either side of his face, and forcing him to meet her gaze only inches from his.

"He's not taking anything. You love me. I love you. There is nothing he can do to ruin that, unless we let him. Understand?" He sighs and tries to look away, but her hands stop him, "Understand?" she says a little more forcefully. Finally, reluctantly, he nods. "Good." She presses a quick kiss to his lips, showing more affection in public for him in the last five minutes than she has in all the months since she returned to the force. "Now go to the break room, I'll be down in a minute to take a look at that hand of yours." She gives a quick smile before he nods again, and shambles away.

The smile dies when he's out of sight. She closes her eyes and sighs once, before turning to face her boys, her tone businesslike. "See if you can track where the feed out of the apartment was going and try and find out where he got the equipment, the high end stuff isn't easy to get a hold of."

They both nodded, but failed to move, Esposito was the one to speak up, "Beckett, are you…"

She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm fine. I'm just going to go check on him." She strode away before anyone could say anything else, ignoring the multitude of questioning eyes around the room watching her leave. The boys shook their heads before turning towards their desks to get to work.

Gates headed to the break room, needing coffee after a night like this, and ok, wondering a little bit what was going on with Castle and Beckett. She had rarely seen that much darkness out of the perpetually chipper Castle, or that much softness from the implacable Beckett, and, let's be honest, no one became a cop because they were indifferent to the lives of others- in fact the job required a certain level of curiosity (sometimes mistaken for nosiness).

She paused by the slightly open door as she heard voices coming from the dimly lit room. She heard a soft chuckle from the Detective, doubtless in response to something her partner had said, and the crack of an ice tray followed by the click of her patent heels crossing the floor. Gate's couldn't resist peeking into the room in time to see Beckett gesture for Castle to make room, he pushes back from the table so she can bring her own chair over but instead the woman sits down across his legs, grabbing his injured hand. The move brings a brief, though genuine smile to his face, as his free arm comes up automatically around her waist.

"You're an idiot you know." Her voice is quiet and more amused than really reproaching.

"Yeah, it probably wasn't by finest moment." His words are accompanied by a self-deprecating chuckle. "So, Detective, or should I say Doctor Beckett, will I live?" Gates rolls her eyes; the man can never be serious for more than five minutes at a time can he?

"Well, luckily, it was safety glass no there are no shards imbedded, but there's a chance something may be broken. At the least you bruised it pretty badly." Beckett cradles his hand on her lap, pressing what looks like ice wrapped in a dishtowel to it.

"Yeah, it's turning some interesting colors", was the flippant reply.

Beckett sighs, before lifting her head to look him in the eye, "So, are you ready to tell me what the hell happened to you in there?"

"Beckett..." he half groans, clearly wanting to avoid the question.

"Castle" she won't look away. "I know this whole situation has been hard on you, but you already thought he was watching us. You wouldn't have asked the boys to check if you didn't. So what's really going on?"

He sighs and looks past her. "The seashells."

She looks mildly confused. "I know they're special to you, to us, but why is that so much worse than being watched in the first place?"

He lets out an entirely mirthless laugh, "You mean besides the fact that he was watching us in our bedroom? That he saw and heard everything, the most intimate moments, thing that weren't meant for anyone but you to hear? That he intruded into my most personal and vulnerable moments, that I feel so hurt and disgusted and violated that I feel like I'll never be comfortable in my own home again? Or how about that he chose a location he _knew_ was a symbol of us building our life together? He has poisoned one of the best things in my life." He voice got angrier and louder as he continued, and he clearly would be pacing around the room again if it weren't for the woman in his lap.

She looked a little stunned at his outburst, but quickly recovered herself. "Castle, I understand. I'm angry too. But this, us, he can't touch that. I'm right here. There is no way I am going anywhere. And us being together, that is all we need to build a life together. I won't let him take our happiness away from us…" She narrows her eyes at the look on his face, "but it isn't just that, is it?"

He shakes his head tries to dodge the question, but she gives him that look: The one that has been given to thousands of suspects, cracked hundreds of cases. The one that let's them know they aren't going anywhere until they spill their secrets.

He gives in. "It's just…those shells, they aren't just about making our own home, to me. The reason I kept those in the first place is, that day on the beach, that was the day I knew."

She wrinkles her eyebrows, "Knew what?"

"That was the first time I really knew we could make this work." Her face clears but she still looks a little confused. "Before that, I had this little voice in the back of my head saying that maybe everything we were was just….a game almost." She opens her mouth to say something, but he quickly cuts her off. "This is coming out wrong. Let me start over. When we went to the Hamptons, I had been in love with you for so long. But a little part of me thought that our relationship had been built off of flirting and Nikki Heat, joking and cases, annoying each other and working together and saving each other's lives too many times to count. There was a little part of me that thought maybe there wasn't anything to us underneath the...dance we've been doing since we met." She smiles and starts to say something to that, but he rushes on, "but that day, before that guys died in my pool," they both smile ruefully at that, "it was just us. There was no New York, no cases, none of my family, or our friends. We weren't Detective Beckett and author Richard Castle. We were just us. Kate and Rick. And we were so happy. I can still see you laughing, free in a way I've never seen before on that beach. You joined in when I wanted to collect seashells, and play in the sand, and generally acted like a child and we had _fun_. And that was the first moment I really, fully believed we could make this work; that I could keep making you happy for the rest of our lives. To have him mock that, to use it against us, to threaten us, to insert himself in our story like that-" he paused "I haven't been that hurt, or angry, or terrified since Alexis went missing," he finally finished.

"What are you scared of?" Beckett still had a smile across her face from his story, but was clearly focusing on the problem at hand first.

"Losing you"

Gates had rarely seen Castle as serious as he was in that moment.

Beckett held his stare, "I promise you- that is not going to happen" She shook her head as he started to cut her off, "Castle, after everything we have been through together, we are not going to lose each other to _Tyson_" Gates almost smiled at the detectives dismissive tone. "We are going to stop him like we have stop a hundred killers before him, because there is no one out there that we can't beat, as long as we face them together. We make a hell of a team Castle." He smiled at that. "And Rick?" she continued, her voice a little softer, "that was the day I started to believe it too, that was the first time I admitted to myself that I was completely in love with you, even though it took a while for me to say it." His smile grew. "So remember, we write our story, and no one does that as well as you. So we are going to have our happily ever after, because I'm kinda looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you."

"Me too." Castle soft voice still spilled out to the hall, before he leaned in to kiss his fiancé. He moved his injured hand up to her face, the ice pack forgotten in her lap, before wincing and pulling back. "Sorry, I kinda forgot" he says gesturing to the swelling purple mess that's supposed to be his hand.

She laughs. "We should probably get someone to look at that, and since I doubt you'll agree to go to the hospital in the middle of this case, you should at least go down to see Lanie."

"Deal." Before she can stand up, he throws her over his shoulder, good hand wrapped high around her thigh. She lets out a laugh, sounding freer and happier than Gates has ever heard her before, calling Castle's name, but not making any serious attempt to get free.

Gates moves back away from the door so they won't see her. She figures she should let them have this moment together. God knows this case is going to be hard enough on them in the days to come; they deserve this minute of lightness. As there laughter drifts from the closing elevator doors, Gates moves towards the stairs- she has a killer to catch.


End file.
